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Usage share of operating systems

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Template:OS marketshare Different categories of computers use a wide variety of operating systems, and the usage share varies enormously from one category to another.

In some categories a single family of operating systems is dominant. For example, most desktops use Microsoft Windows and most supercomputers use Linux. In other categories, such as smartphones and servers, there is greater diversity and competition.

Information about operating system share is difficult to obtain. In most of the categories below, there is no reliable primary source or methodology for its collection.

Desktop and laptop computers

There is little openly published information on the usage share of desktop and laptop computers. Gartner publishes estimates, but the way the estimates are calculated is not openly published. Also, sales may overstate usage. Most computers are sold with a pre-installed OS; some users replace that OS with a different one due to personal preference. Conversely, sales underestimate usage, by not counting pirated copies. For example, in 2009, "U.S. research firm IDC estimated that 80% of software sold in China last year was pirated." (Windows was mentioned, but no specific estimate for Windows was given.)[1] As another example, in 2007, the automated push of IE7 update onto legal copies of Windows, contrasted with web browser share statistics, led one author to "estimate that 25%-35% of all Windows XP machines are illegal".[2]

Estimates for 2011

Note: These are current-year sales estimates, not accumulative usage share for all PCs that are in use.

In August 2011, Gartner estimated Apple's PC market share in US as 10.7% for Q2 2011. Apple's worldwide market share not listed, because not in top 5; can infer is 5% or below. Gartner's numbers include netbooks, but do not include media tablets such as the iPad. Total units in Q2 2011 from all vendors ~ 85 million.[3]

"A Gartner forecast calls for Mac OS to ship on 4.5 percent of new PCs worldwide in 2011 and 5.2 percent in 2015. Gartner does not expect Google Chrome OS, Google Android or HP's webOS to get 'any significant market share' on PCs in the next few years, and expects Linux operating systems to remain at less than 2 percent share over the next several years."[4]

Apple reports selling 4 million Macs in Q2 2011 (which is third quarter in Apple's fiscal year).[5]

Older information

In a speech to investors in February 2009, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft presented a slide based on Microsoft's research: while it showed no figures, the pie chart depicted Linux and Apple as each having roughly 5–6% of home and business PCs.[6]

Web client usage share (see below) is often used as a proxy for desktop share, but many desktops are not used for web access so do not get counted in these figures. The correlation between desktop share and web client share is also being challenged by mobile web access, which rose through 1% in 2009 and 4% in 2010.[7]

Microsoft's CFO Peter Klein stated in July 2010 that Windows 7 now runs on more than 15% of all PCs worldwide.[8] A Forrester Research study of desktop operating systems used in North American and European companies in 2010 found Windows 7 on 10% of all commercial desktops, Windows XP on 75% and Vista on 7%.[9]

In October 2010 Steve Jobs of Apple claimed that 1 in 5 of desktop/laptop computers sold in the United States is a Mac.[10]

Web clients

The following information on web clients is obtained from the User agent information supplied to web servers by web browsers. This is an inexact science for a variety of reasons. For a discussion on the shortcomings see Usage share of web browsers.

The most recent data from various sources published during the last six months is summarized in the table below. (All of these sources monitor a substantial number of web sites. Statistics that relate to a single web site are excluded.)

Source Date Microsoft Windows Apple Linux kernel based Symbian Black-
Berry
OS 		Other
7 Vista XP All
versions 		Mac
OS X 		iOS GNU/
Linux 		Android
AT Internet [11] Apr. 2011 28.8% 16.4% 42.1% 88.4% 6.9% 2.8% 0.9% 0.5% --- --- 0.5%
Clicky Web Analytics [12] Aug. 2011 30.95% 10.71% 28.24% 78.86% 13.23% 3.88% 1.16% 1.84% 0.13% 0.41% 0.49%
Net Market Share [13][14] Aug. 2011 28.52% 8.76% 48.89% 86.58% 5.62% 3.38% 1.00% 1.02% 0.40% 0.21% 1.79%
Global Stats [15][16][17] Aug. 2011 35.00% 10.34% 39.55% 85.21% 5.83% 2.22% 0.72% 1.54% 2.29% 0.84% 0.56%
StatOwl [18] Jul. 2011 30.25% 14.90% 33.26% 79.62% 12.84% --- 0.85% --- --- --- 6.69%
W3Counter [19] Aug. 2011 33.77% 10.34% 35.71% 79.94 8.69% 2.88% 1.55% 1.17% 0.15% 0.72% 4.90%
Webmasterpro [20] Aug. 2011 35.9% 15.2% 34.7% 87.2% 6.1% 3.7% 1.4% 1.1% 0.2% 0.02% 0.28%
Wikimedia [21] Aug. 2011 31.47% 11.82% 34.59 78.49% 7.71% 5.07% 1.53% 1.76% 0.17% 0.55% 4.72%
Median Aug. 2011 31.21% 11.27% 35.21% 82.58% 7.31% 3.38% 1.08% 1.17% 0.19% 0.48% 1.18%

Notes:

  • The 'Other' column is obtained by summing Windows 'all versions' through BlackBerry OS and subtracting from 100%.
  • AT Internet measures 23 European countries.
  • Clicky Web Analytics does not publish desktop/mobile split so mean of Net Market Share and StatCounter figures (6.745% mobile) used in lieu. Figures are averages over last 7 days of month.
  • StatOwl measures desktop share and predominantly US web sites with "broad appeal".[22] Figure for XP includes Server 2003. Figures reduced by 6.245% to allow for missing mobile usage.
  • W3Counter shows only the top ten operating systems and is based on the last 15,000 page views to each of over 49,000 web sites tracked.
  • Webmasterpro samples over 100,000 predominantly German-language sites. Figures are averages over last 7 days of month.
  • Wikimedia uses 1:1000 sampling of its logs when deriving the usage numbers. Figure for Vista includes Server 2008; XP includes Server 2003.
  • iOS figures include iPhone, iPod and iPad.
  • Mac OS X is broken down by four of the sources listed above and all of them show that version 10.6 (Snow Leopard) is the most widely used.
  • Clicky Web Analytics, StatOwl and Wikimedia indicate that Ubuntu has an order of magnitude more usage than any other identified desktop Linux distribution.

Netbooks

The netbook market has been dominated by Microsoft Windows, with Linux in second place.

Initially, Linux dominated the netbook market when Asus started it with the Eee PC in October 2007, but this lead did not last long. Asus and Acer, which accounted for 90% of the early netbook market, installed Linux on 30% of their machines.[23]

Microsoft responded by extending the life of Windows XP. By February 2009, Microsoft cited data from NPD Retail Tracking Service which showed that US market share of Windows on netbooks went from under 10% to 96%.[24]

In November 2009, an analyst at ABI said that of the 35 million netbooks to ship globally in 2009, 68% would have Windows and 32% Linux.[25]

According to DisplaySearch, netbooks and tablets rose from just under a 14% share of the overall portable computer market in third quarter of 2008 to around 20% in the second quarter of 2009, and remained at around 20% until the middle of 2010. During 2010, Apple's iPad tablet computer gained a 6.5% share of this market sector in the first quarter and DisplaySearch forecast this will rise to 30% in the second.[26]

Tablet computers

Tablet computers, or simply tablets, became a significant OS market share category starting with Apple's iOS-based iPad in 2010. ~ 29 million iPad's sold to date, as of June 2011.

2011 Sales and Estimates (millions of units):

iOS: Q1: 7.3, Q2: 4.7 (limited by supply shortages)[27]

Android: "Android media tablets have collectively taken 20% market share away from the iPad in the last 12 months."[28]

"Apple is set to increase its iPad shipments at a faster rate than previously expected in 2011 and beyond, causing the global media tablet market to exceed growth expectations during the next few years, according to data from information and analysis provider IHS. Apple will ship 44 million iPads in 2011; shipments expected to reach 120 million units in 2015. Apple is expected to account for 74 percent of media tablet shipments in 2011 and 43-44 percent in 2015."[29]

Top vendors: In Q1 2011, Apple's iOS sold 7.3 million tablets. (Q2 number not used, because was limited by supply shortages.) Google's Android shipped on 1 - 2 million tablets per quarter (20% estimate by ABI).

Mobile devices

Share of worldwide 2011 Q2 smartphone sales to end users by operating system, according to Gartner.[30]

Mobile operating systems that can be found on smartphones include Nokia's Symbian, Apple's iOS, RIM's BlackBerry, Microsoft's Windows Mobile (marketed as Windows Phone) and its successor Windows Phone 7, Google's Android, Samsung's Bada, and HP's webOS. Android and webOS are in turn built on top of Linux, and iOS is derived from the BSD and NeXTSTEP operating systems. Linux, BSD, and NeXTSTEP are all related to Unix.


Gartner's Q2 2011 unit numbers total 107 million with Google's Android shipping on 47 million smartphones, Nokia's Symbian on 24 million and Apple's iOS on 20 million.[30]

Canalys' Q2 2011 unit numbers total 108 million with Google's Android shipping on 52 million smartphones, Apple's iOS on 20 million, and Nokia's Symbian on < 20 million.[31] Nokia confirms its Q2 smartphone sales were 16.7 million units.[32] [33]

Total unit predictions for 2011: (IDC) 472 million[34]; (Gartner) 468 million[35].

Predictions for 2012: (Gartner): 630 million units; Android 49% / iOS 19% / BlackBerry 13% / Windows 11% / Symbian 5% / Other 3%.[35] (Taiwan/Market Intelligence Center): Android 40% / iOS 19% / Windows 17% / Other 24%.[36] (IDC) 582 million units total.[37]

Predictions for 2015: (Gartner): 1105 million units; Android 49% / Windows 20% / iOS 17% / BlackBerry 11% / Other 3%.[35] (IDC): 982 million units; Android 44% / Windows 20% / iOS 17% / BlackBerry 13% / Other 6%.[34]

Source Date Symbian BlackBerry iOS Linux kernel based Bada Windows Other
Android webOS
Gartner[30] Q2 2011 22.1% 11.7% 18.2% 43.4% 1.9% 1.6% 1.0%
Gartner[35] 2011 forecast 19.2% 13.4% 19.4% 38.5% * * 5.6% 3.9%
IDC[34] 2011 forecast 20.6% 14.2% 18.2% 38.9% * * 3.8% 4.3%
Taiwan/MIC[36] 2011 forecast 23% * 18% 38% * * * 21%
Canalys[31] Q2 2011 ** ** 19% 48% ** 1% **
Canalys[38] Q4 2010 31.0% 14.6% 16.2% 33.3% * * 3.1% 3.0%
Stat Counter[39] August 2011 32.12% 11.84% 19.41% 20.6% 0.45%
NPD Group (US only)[40] Q2 2011 11% 29% 52%
Canalys (US only)[41] Q3 2010 24.2% 26.2% 43.6% 3.0%
Millenial Media (US only)[42] June 2011 3% 15% 26% 54% 2%
Nielsen Company (US only)[43] Q2 2011 2% 20% 28% 39% 2% 9%
Comscore (US only)[44] July 2011 1.9% 21.7% 27.0% 41.8% 5.7%

Notes:

  • The above table is share of smartphone OSs - not overall marketshare.
  • StatCounter measures share of mobile web browsing
  • Millenial Media measures share of ad impressions

(*) Included in "Other". (**) Source numbers are per device vendor; breakdown by OS is incomplete.

Servers

Server market share can be measured with statistical surveys of publicly accessible servers, such as web servers, mail servers[45] or DNS servers on the Internet: the operating system powering such servers is found by inspecting raw response messages. This method gives a good insight into market share of operating systems actually installed on those servers, however it only includes servers publicly accessible on Internet.

Source Date Method Unix/Unix like Microsoft Windows References
All Linux BSD Solaris
W3Techs August 2011 Units (Web) 63.9% 36.1% [46][47]
Security Space July 2009 Units (Web) 79.64% >70.00% 20.36% [48][49][verification needed]

Notes:

  • W3Techs survey in August 2011 checked the top 1 million Web servers (according to Alexa).
  • Security Space survey in August 2009 checked 38,549,333 publicly accessible Web servers.
  • Netcraft SSL survey[50] in January 2009 also checked 1,014,301 publicly accessible Web servers, but the survey is only valid for SSL Web servers and it is not a good measure for our purpose.

Another method is to measure server hardware sold through commercial channels - market share by units sold or market share by revenue. However these methods undercount the share of open source operating systems currently in use, since such operating systems are usually obtained for free with or without a support plan.

Source Date Method Microsoft Windows Unix/Unix like References
All Linux
IDC Q1 2011 Revenue 48.5% 38.7% 16.9% [51]
Gartner 2007 Revenue 66.8% 30.0% 23.2% [52][53]

Mainframes

IBM System z has a 90-95% share of the mainframe computer hardware market.[54]

Operating systems for IBM System z generation hardware include IBM's bundled proprietary z/OS,[54] Linux on System z and as at October 7, 2008; 16 years ago (2008-10-07) the prototype OpenSolaris for System z.

Gartner reported on December 23, 2008; 15 years ago (2008-12-23) that Linux on System z was used on approximately 28% of the "customer z base" and that they expected this to increase to over 50% in the following five years.[55]

Of Linux on System z, Red Hat and Novell compete to sell RHEL and SLES respectively.

  • Prior to 2006, Novell claimed a market share of 85% or more.
  • Red Hat has since claimed 18.4% in 2007 and 37% in 2008.[56]
  • Gartner reported at the end of 2008 that Novell had an 80% share of mainframe Linux.[55]

Supercomputers

Graph of supercomputer OS market share from around 1994 to 2010 according to TOP500.[57]

The TOP500 project lists and ranks the 500 fastest supercomputers that benchmark results are submitted for. It then publishes the collected data twice a year. The June 2011 figures are below.

Source Date Linux IBM AIX Other Unix Microsoft HPCS 2008 Other References
TOP500 June 2011 91.2% 4.0% 0.4% 1.2% 3.0%. [58][59]

See also


References

  1. ^ "Software Pirates in China Beat Microsoft to the Punch". The New York Times. 19 October 2009.
  2. ^ "Around 25-35% of Windows XP systems are pirated (calculations included)".
  3. ^ "Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Increased 2.3 Percent in Second Quarter of 2011". 13 July 2011.
  4. ^ "Which operating system will be 2011's bestseller?". 11 August 2011.
  5. ^ "Apple Reports Third Quarter Results". 19 July 2011.
  6. ^ Holwerda, Thom (25 February 2009). "Ballmer: Linux Bigger Competitor than Apple". osnews.com.
  7. ^ http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vs_desktop-ww-monthly-200812-201011
  8. ^ "Windows 7, Office Drive Record Microsoft Revenue". Top Tech News. 23 July 2010.
  9. ^ "Updated 2010: Windows 7 Commercial Adoption Outlook". Forrester Research. 2 November 2010.
  10. ^ "App Store comes to Mac in 90 days, new iLife Suite and trimmer MacBook Air available now". Betanews Inc. October 20, 2010, 2:57 PM. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ http://en.atinternet.com/Resources/Surveys/Internet-user-equipment/Operating-systems-April-2011/index-1-2-7-235.aspx
  12. ^ http://getclicky.com/marketshare/global/operating-systems/
  13. ^ http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8
  14. ^ http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10
  15. ^ http://gs.statcounter.com/#os-ww-monthly-201108-201108-bar
  16. ^ http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os-ww-monthly-201108-201108-bar
  17. ^ http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vs_desktop-ww-monthly-201108-201108-bar
  18. ^ http://statowl.com/operating_system_market_share.php
  19. ^ http://w3counter.com/globalstats.php
  20. ^ http://www.webmasterpro.de/portal/webanalyse-systeme.html
  21. ^ http://stats.wikimedia.org/archive/squid_reports/2011-08/SquidReportOperatingSystems.htm
  22. ^ http://statowl.com/about_our_data.php
  23. ^ Culpan, Tim; Bass, Dina (6 November 2008). "Microsoft Missing Netbook Growth as Linux Wins Sales (Update2)". Bloomberg.com.
  24. ^ "Windows on Netbook PCs: A Year in Review". Windows Experience Blog.
  25. ^ Lai, Eric (4 November 2009). "Linux's share of netbooks surging, not sagging, says analyst". computerworld.com.
  26. ^ Smith, Tony (17 June 2010). "iPad gouges netbook sales". The Register. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  27. ^ "Apple unveils fiscal 2011 Q2 results".
  28. ^ "Android Takes 20% Media Tablet Market Share from iPad in Last 12 Months". 11 August 2011.
  29. ^ "Media Tablet Forecast Increased as Apple's Dominance Grows". 24 August 2011.
  30. ^ a b c "Gartner Says Sales of Mobile Devices in Second Quarter of 2011 Grew 16.5 Percent Year-on-Year; Smartphone Sales Grew 74 Percent". Gartner. 11 August 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  31. ^ a b "Android takes almost 50% share of worldwide smart phone market". Canalys. 1 August 2011.
  32. ^ "Nokia Q2 2011 results - smartphone sales fall to 16.7m". All About Symbian. 21 July 2011.
  33. ^ "Nokia Q2 2011 net sales EUR 9.3 billion, non-IFRS EPS EUR 0.06 (reported EPS EUR -0.10)". Nokia. 21 July 2011.
  34. ^ a b c "Worldwide Smartphone Market Expected to Grow 55% in 2011 and Approach Shipments of One Billion in 2015, According to IDC". IDC. 9-Jun-2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. ^ a b c d "Gartner: Microsoft Windows Phone market share to surpass Apple's iOS in 2015". Gartner. 9-Sep-2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ^ a b "HTC expected to overtake RIM in '12: MIC". The China Post. 30-Jun-2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. ^ "The Next Smart Revolution - Smart Enterprise" (PDF). Samsung. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  38. ^ "Google's Android becomes the world's leading smart phone platform". 30 June 2011.
  39. ^ "StatCounter Global Stats: Top 8 Mobile OSs on Aug 11".
  40. ^ "The NPD Group: As Android Solidifies Lead, Google Acquisition Has Potential to Revitalize Flagging Motorola". 22 August 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  41. ^ "Apple takes the lead in the US smart phone market with a 26% share". 2 November 2010.
  42. ^ http://www.millennialmedia.com/wp-content/images/mobilemix/MM-MobileMix-June2011.pdf
  43. ^ "In U.S. Smartphone Market, Android is Top Operating System, Apple is Top Manufacturer". 28 July 2011.
  44. ^ "comScore Reports July 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share". comScore. 30 August 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  45. ^ "Mail Server Survey". Security Space. August 2011.
  46. ^ "Usage of operating systems for websites". W3Techs. 7 September 2010.
  47. ^ "Usage of Unix for websites". W3Techs. 7 September 2010.
  48. ^ "Web Server Survey". Security Space. 1 August 2009.
  49. ^ "OS/Linux Distributions using Apache". Security Space. 1 August 2009.
  50. ^ "Operating System Share by Groups for Sites in All Locations January 2009".
  51. ^ "Worldwide Server Market Revenues Increase 12.1% in First Quarter as Market Demand Continues to Improve, According to IDC". IDC. 24 May 2011.
  52. ^ "Dataquest Insight: Operating System Software Market Share Analysis, Worldwide, 2007". Gartner.
  53. ^ Wakabayashi, Daisuke (27 February 2008). "Microsoft sees Windows gaining server market share". Reuters.
  54. ^ a b "IBM Tightens Stranglehold Over Mainframe Market; Gets Hit with Antitrust Complaint in Europe". Computer & Communications Industry Association. 2 July 2008.
  55. ^ a b "Vendor Rating: Novell, 2008". Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00162399. 23 December 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
  56. ^ Claybrook, Bill (1 September 2009). "Red Hat bolsters Linux for mainframes, tries to catch Novell". SearchDataCenter.com. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
  57. ^ "Top500 OS chart". Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  58. ^ "Operating system Family share for 06/2011". Top 500 project.
  59. ^ "Operating System share for 06/2011". Top 500 project.
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